The Impact of Socioeconomic and Cultural Differences on Online Trade
利用eBay数据研究美国各州间社会经济文化差异如何影响在线贸易，发现文化相似性促进交易，尤其当卖家缺乏声誉或认证时，但文化相似性与买家满意度无关。
We use eBay data to investigate how within-U.S. trade is influenced by differences in socioeconomic characteristics. States’ similarity in cultural characteristics (ethnicity, religious affiliations, and political behavior) predicts online trade; cultural similarity similarly predicts trade within product categories. The culture-trade relationship is stronger for transactions with sellers who lack extensive reputations or certification, suggesting that consumers infer seller trustworthiness from cultural similarity. There is no correlation between cultural similarity and buyer satisfaction, suggesting that perceived differences in trustworthiness are not validated in actual transactions. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4681 .